Justification:
Listed as Least Concern, as despite being poorly known, this species has a wide distribution, occurs in protected areas, there is no substantial habitat loss, it is not collected for the marine aquarium fish trade.

This poorly-known species has been recorded from a number of scattered locations in the central and western Pacific including Johnston Atoll (USA); Fanning Island (= Tabuaeran) Kiribati; the Northern Mariana Islands; Guam; the Admiralty Islands (Papua New Guinea); Ouvéa Atoll (Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia); the Samoan Islands (presumably present in both Samoa and American Samoa) and likely occurs at other areas within this general range (Allen 1980, Pyle 2001, G.R. Allen pers. comm. 2006). It is typically encountered at depths between 4-15 m (Allen 1980).

While this species appears to be relatively uncommon, populations are generally thought to be stable. It is a very cryptic species that is seldom seen except for at collecting stations using poison (Pyle 2001). No live specimens are believed to have been collected to date.

While it is a poorly known species, it has a wide distribution, there is no substantial habitat loss, it is not threatened by the marine aquarium fish trade, and there appear to be no major threats to this species overall.

There appear to be no species-specific conservation measures in place. Johnson Atoll forms part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. It is likely to be present in additional protected areas.